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Thursday, May 08, 2008

That billboard...

For those who wanted to know, this is the billboard that has been removed as "objectionable".

From granny Herald, with thanks -

Large billboards that leave little to the imagination have drawn complaints, particularly from Auckland's Pacific community, which claims they are culturally insensitive.

The billboards offer "longer lasting sex" to men with erectile dysfunction.

They provide an 0800 number for people to get more information about "nasal delivery technology" from doctors at an Australian company, Advanced Medical Institute.

Tongan mother 'Eseta Funganitao, who has complained about the billboards, was shocked to see them when travelling with her young children in her car from Mangere.

Mrs Funganitao's 12-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son had seen the "ugly ad".

"It's not okay, especially when they are brought up in a Christian family," she said.

In her culture it was not allowed to discuss the subject of sex in front of a brother and sister together, and they would normally be separated for such purposes.

"Sex is tapu, sacred, not to be discussed publicly."

Mrs Funganitao, of Mt Roskill, has complained to the office of her local MP, Phil Goff, and to the Pacific Island Board in its role as an advocate of the Pacific community to the Auckland City Council.

She had also rung the 0800 number to complain to the company but got only a "rude" response.

Mrs Funganitao was also disturbed that the sign seemed to be encouraging everyone to have sex - which did not send an appropriate message to young people.

Asenati Lole-Taylor, chairwoman of the Pacific Island Board, said she had received complaints about the billboards from the Pacific community.

She said the billboards created discomfort and were an insensitive way to display the message. "If people have a problem they should be seeing their doctor."

... and people wonder why it is that I get somewhat "hasty" (as Treebeard might have said) about the impact of religion on me and the society in which I live.

I can but wonder what these well meaning "God-moms" (intended pun on "soccer-moms") might have thought of the Cyrus photo.

(My heart is still on the side of Annie Liebowitz. It is a fantastic image.)

2 comments:

Problico - That ad is very offensive. I think there are better ways to advertise for such dysfunctions. Children are seeing more and more at earlier ages, than ever before. You wonder what is going wrong with our society when things like this are advertised, where everyone and his brother can see it? Sorry, but Christain or not, I have to agree with the little lady. Next thing they will be doing is showing how to insert a tampon...

As far as Miley Cyrus goes, she is just a little too young to be posing for pictures like that. Three or four years later it might be a different story. As far as I am concerned, she is still a child.

I share your thoughts about (as you suggest) advertisements showing how to insert a tampon. That (for me) comes under the heading of "Things I do NOT need to know" despite the fact that I do ( a teenage daughter is a liability :) ; oh and she is now past 30...). This billboard is on the margins, but I gave it a tick; albeit fairly slowly and with some considerable thought beforehand.

It is not a product that I would necessarily buy; but then there are other products about which I have said the same thing in the past and which I now own - starting with a tv set, and a radio control system for the models I now try to fly instead of pursuing them across-country.

Similarly, there are advertisements and products that you see sold publicly which get me extremely irate - things like "no-limit finance", and casinos, and RTD's, and McD's, and BK's and.... and "party-pills"... and ...

Family and friends

About Me

I have to admit to more than sixty, decrepit, wine soaked, well married, years.
Full per-sick-er-lodg-a-cle profile can be found here -
http://probligo.blogspot.com/2005/07/essential-probligo-fwiw.html